WEST CHESTER – Head coach Deirdre Kane believes that the West Chester women’s basketball squad features two of the premier frontcourt players in the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference in Alexandra Lennon and Ambreelinne Ortman.

But outside of that, Kane acknowledges that she doesn’t yet know a whole lot about the 2012-13 Golden Rams.

“We have a lot of newcomers and they are definitely untested,” said Kane, who is entering her 26th season at the helm. “So I really don’t know where we are. Time will tell.”

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Her coaching peers, however, picked WCU to finish second behind defending champion Bloomsburg and obviously believe that Kane’s team will once again be a legitimate contender in the PSAC East. Lennon, Ortman and point guard Meghan Kerrigan are back from a squad that won 21 games, was the division runner-up and earned a berth in the NCAA Division II Tournament.

A first-team all-league pick and the Eastern Division defensive player of the year as a junior, Lennon (6-foot-2) is expected to lead West Chester once again in scoring (14.1) and rebounding 7.3). Ortman (nicknamed ‘A.O’) was third in scoring (11.6) and was the team’s top 3-point shooter (.412 percent).

“We know that (Lennon) is going to get a lot of attention because she is so effective,” Kane said. “A.O. is just steady, and she’s an inside-outside threat.”

Last season’s strength on the wing, however, is now a big question mark with the departure of star Allison Hostetter and role player Jillian Keefer. Kane plans to employ the five-in, five-out substitution pattern she debuted a year ago, but there are some questions whether the Rams still have the depth to pull it off.

Kerrigan will once again orchestrate the offense, and she had the kind of assist-to-turnover ratio (100-to-38) that coaches love from their point guard. But the rest of the starting backcourt is projected to be true freshmen Jazzy Clark (5-4) and Dallas Ely (5-9). And another rookie, Brittany Sicinski (5-9 from Downingtown West), is expected to be on the second unit.

“As a first-time starter last year (Kerrigan) had two veteran wings around her,” Kane said. “Now she has two true freshmen. This is new for us. It will be a big challenge.”

Kane says that Clark, Ely and Sicinski are all very athletic and can handle the ball. And returnees like Paige Elliott (5-8, Jr.), Carly Strickland (6-1, Sr.), Kendall Bovovy (6-0, So.) and Tiffany Johnson (5-3, So.) will round out the playing rotation.

“But with three newcomers in the top-10, we are throwing everything at them, so it’s just a matter of them getting comfortable, and they won’t be able to do that until they get some games under their belts,” Kane added. “There will definitely be some chemistry issues.”